My objective is to prepare a comprehensive history of cholera infantum (or "summer complaint") from its first mention by Benjamin Rush in 1777 until the dawn of the twentieth century by reviewing all published papers dealing with this disease during that period of time. The most compelling justifications for such a study is that no comprehensive historical review of the enormous importance of cholera infantum to the history of American pediatrics has yet been published. No other publications or works in this field contain similar material. The method to be pursued will be a detailed, critical analysis and interpretation of every American reference to cholera infantum to be found in newspapers, magazines, medical journals, almanacs and books. My proposed study will point out the pivotal importance of cholera infantum in the emergence of scientific pediatrics, a fact not generally appreciated by modern physicians.